Hosiery knitting frame



Nov. 25, 1940. F. TESSE HOSIERY KNITTING FRAME Filed May 24, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nbv. 26, 1940. F. TESSE HOSIERY KNITTING FRAME 4 Sheets-Sheet 2y Filed May 24, 1938 In Vex-72 5f F. TESSE HOSIERY KNITTING FRAME Nov. 2,

4 sheet s 3 F. TESSE 2,222,918

HOS IERY KNITTING FRAME Filed May 24, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 25 mum Patented Nov. 26, 1940 PATENT orrlca HOBI E EY KNITTING FRAME Felix Tease, In Courneuve, France, assignor to Socit (lite: Societe Generale De Bonneterle,

Troyes, (Aube)I France Application May 24, 1938, Serial N0. 2,"6 In France May 28, 1937 30lalms. (cits-s2) In the usual knitting machines of the Cotton type the coulier cam makes hall a turn at every rotation of the main cam shalt and pushes, in the known manner, through the medium of rollers I and o! a pitman, the coulier lever the upper end of which drives, on the one hand, the slur cocks and, on the other hand, the friction boxes whose fingers actuate the carrier rods.

But, the constant pressure of the rollers against the coulier cam wears, after a certain time, said cam and said rollers; the coulier motion, instead of being regular, becomes a Jerky one; whence irregular unwinding of the thread from the spools and consequently irregularity of the loops; moreover, this gives rise to shocks between the rollers and the coulier cam thereby accelerating the wear of same; the position of the slur-cocks and that of the carrier rods are no longer secured in an accurate manner, particularly at the beginning of the loop forming of any row.

Whereas the stroke oi the slur-cocks is a constant one, while that oi the carrier rod is more and more small, the rate of the levers of friction boxes, at the moment the same meet the dogs of the carrier-rods, is more and more large; the resulting jerk throws over the carrier rod to the detriment of the correction of the lower selvedges.

For the same reason, the rate of the carrier rods, at the moment the same meet their stops, is

more and more large; thereby distorting the same and causing them to rebound.

There has been devised machines of the Cotton type, hereinafter called special Cotton machines, in which the time devoted to the loop forming is in proportion to the length of every row; the slur cocks, in said machines, act but upon the jacks which correspond to the sinkers adapted to form loops; they do not touch the other jacks because a device moves them apart therefrom, as soon as 40 they have acted upon the last selvedge jack of the row and will not bring them nearer the one to the other until the moment when they are to act upon the first selvedge jack of the next row. Moreover, in such machines, the motions for forming the loops:pressing, knocking over, and the like take place as soon as the slur cock has acted upon the last selvedge jack and the loop forming of the next row takes place as soon as the needle-bar has risen back to its position.

Obviously, the correct operation of said special machines, which is unavoidable for obtaining the best output which said machines have for their purpose, requires to a still higher degree than in other machines, the accurate position of the slur 5; cocks at the ends of their strokes.

The devices according to the invention avoid the above mentioned inconveniences and in the case of the above cited special flat hosiery machines, realize the best conditions or operation of the coulier motion mechanism, due to the fact 5 that:

A a strong main coulier motion mechanism 1st-The control without play of the coulier lever during its motion and its effective locking 10 while it is at rest.

2nd--in the special above cited flat hosiery knitting frames, the automatic reduction of the loop forming stroke in proportion as the rows of meshes oi the blank are narrowed. 15

3rd-the starting at a gradual rate 0! the coulier lever at the beginning or loop iorming of any row, the .result being for that special hosiery machines, a considerable reduction 01. impact against the carrier rod at the moment the same is driven; o

4ththe gradual slowing down of the coulier lever at the end 01' the coulier motion" resulting, for .the special flat hosiery machines in question, in a considerable reduction of the impact of the carrier rods when the same come to their stops; 25

BA subsidiary device allowing:

1stto reduce the loop-forming stroke, whatever the width of the row may be, relatively to the ordinary machines, through a relative displacement oi the slur cocks and oi. the friction box 30 fingers after the looping operation is stopped at the end of stroke, so that the slur cocks, stopped at the end of the stroke as soon as it has pushed the last selvage sinker, assumes due to said displacement during the formation of the meshes of 35 the row which has just been looped, its starting position for the following row, at a determined and constant distance from the yarn carrier. Said relative displacement allows of effectively limiting the stroke of the slur cocks to the mini- 40 mum as required and above defined for the above cited special flat hosiery machines.

2nd-to determine the just mentioned relative displacement in such special machines, so that the levers used for driving the carrier rods will be' 45 brought into contact with the driving dogs of the said carrier rods; the starting of said rods consequently takes place without any shock.

In the accompanying drawings showing, by way of example, an embodiment according to the invention:

Fig. 1 is a side view or the main coulier motion mechanism.

Fig.2 is an elevation of said main coulier motion mechanism in which the sliding block I, shown in mixed lines, has been removed.

Fig. 3 shows in elevation a particular position of the oscillating connecting rod 33 during the g motion of the slide 4. i

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the oscillating rod 30 in its position of rest.

Fig. is a planview of the whole of the link 32 and of the oscillating connecting rod 30.

1 Fig. 6 is an elevation of the subsidiary device for the relative displacement of the slur cocks and the yarn carriers.

Fig. 7 is a side view of the same device.

The main coulier motion mechanism comprises (Figs. 1 and 2) a slide-block to which are secured, by their lugs 3, two supports 2 connected to a slide 4, the whole being capable of moving longitudinally along shafts 5 and 3 secured to the frames I and 3 of the machine. g

The main cam shaft 5 carries a pinion III meshing with a gear wheel I I fast to the shaft I2.

As such is the case in the present machines, the ratio of the gear wheels III and I I is such that when the main shaft 9 makes a revolution (during which the coulier motion of the yarn and the knitting properly called take place), the shaft I2 makes half a revolution, that is to say the displacement of the slur cocks and of the yarn carriers takes place, for two consecutive revolutions of the main cam shaft, in the one or in the other direction.

At the end of the shaft I2, a crank I3 carries a stationary pin I4 to which is loosely mounted a slide I5 engaged in a groove of the slide I.

85 The rotation of the shaft 3 causes that of the shaft I2 and, consequently,the alternative longitudinal translation of the slide 4.

On the threaded parts I1 and I3 of a shaft I6 are mounted two supports I9 and 20 to which,

are respectively secured the parts 2| and 22. The shaft I6 may rotate in bearings of the frames 1 and 3 under the action of the usual device controlling the rotation of the spindle of the narrowing mechanism, said intermittent rotation taking place through the medium of the chain 23 gearing with the pinion 24, keyed to the end of the shaft.

In the slide 4, on the one hand, and in the parts 2| and 22, on the other hand, are provided grooves go in which respectively enter rollers 25 and 26, on

the one hand, 21 and 28, on the other hand, loose on axles 29 secured to the oscillating rod 30 (Figs. 2--34 and 5).

The oscillating rod 30 is loosely mounted on a 5 shaft 3| connected to the link 32 articulated to the end of the lever 33, through the medium ofthe axle 34, and to the coulier lever 35, through the medium of the axle 36. The lever 33 may pivot about an axis 31 mounted on a support (Fig. 7) secured to the machine.

The lever 35 may pivot about the fulcrum 39 mounted on the support 40 secured to the cross members 4| and 42 of the machine.

The coulier-lever 35 carries, at its upper end (Figs. 1 and 2) an axis 43 to which is pivoted a lever 44 carrying two pins to which two links 45 and 46 are articulated. The link 45 is articulated to slide 41 through the medium of shaft 43 and the rod 46 to the slide 43 through the medium 7 of shaft 5|). To the slide 41 is secured a friction boxrod 5| adapted to operate longitudinally the levers (not represented) driving the carrier rods; to the slide 43 is secured a connecting bar 52 driving the slur cocks in their longitudinal motion.

articulated the link (Figs. 2-8 and 'I), the

other end of which is articulated to the axis 53 10 secured to the arm 30 of lever 6|, the latter being capable of pivoting about the axis 32 connected to the fixed support 43.

The lever 6| moreover carries two arms 33 and 64 on the ends of which are mounted the II rollers and 33; the latter bear respectively against cams 31 and 33 secured to the gear wheel II.

The main coulier motion mechanism operates as follows:

The crank I3 imparts to the slide-block I and consequently to the slide 4 connected to the latter alternative translations of a constant amplitude. It must be observed that. due to the guiding of the slide I3, over a great length of 35 the plane faces of the groove provided in the slide I in which lubrication is permanently secured, it is possible to obtain a safe operation, without play, of the slide block I, of the slide 4 and consequently of the parts to which said slide .0 4 imparts the motions which will be hereinafter described.

Assuming the crank I3 revolves in the direction of the arrow F (Fig. 2) and the coulier lever 35 reaches the middle of its stroke, at this a moment, the lower rollers 21 and 23 of the oscillating link 3|! bear respectively against the horizontal partsa and bof the grooves provided in the parts 2| and 22 and oppose themselves to every pivoting motion of the oscillating link 30 about its axis 3|; the upper rollers 25 and 26 are symmetrically engaged at the middle of the right and left curved parts of the groove provided in the slide 4--(Fig. 2).

Whereas the oscillating link 30 is unable to pivot about its axis, the same consequently participates, without relative motion, to the translation of the slide 4 and drives, through the medium of the axis 3|, the link 32 and accordingly the coulier lever 35. M

The slide 4, continuing its translation in the direction of the arrow F1 (Fig. 3), the lower roller on the left hand side, 21, comes into contact with the part c of the incline of part 2| and causes the oscillating link 30 to pivot about its axis 3|; the left-hand side upper roller 25 then descends in its groove, whilst the roller 23' rises in its groove.

The form of said grooves has for effect to slow down the translation of the oscillating link 33 and consequently reduces the speed of oscillation of the looping lever 35.

As the roller 21 is moving down along the in- 'cline c of the part 2|, the slowing down of the oscillating link 33, and consequently of the coulier .5 lever 35, increases and, when the roller 21 arrives to the position of Figure 4, the upper rollers 25 and 23 are respectively in the lower and upper horizontal rectilinear parts of the groove provided in the slide 4. Said slide 4 then does no 70 longer feed the oscillating link 30 and the coulier lever 35 stops, while the translation of the slide 4 continues. I

In this position, the oscillating link III-and consequently the coulier lever 35-18 effectively 7 aaaaars looked, as the rollers and 25 then do not allow any oscillating motion and the roller 21 opposes itself to any translating motion of said oscillating link 35. 1

When the crank I3 drives the slide 4 in the reverse direction F2 (Figs. 8 and 4),the rollers 25 and 25 sliding in the horizontal parts of the grooves in which they are located, first continue to oppose themselves to the pivoting motion of the oscillating link and consequently the first part of the stroke of the slide 4 has no action upon the coulier lever 35. Such is the situation until the moment when the inclines f and y of the slide 4 respectively act upon the rollers 25 and 25 and determine the gradual pivoting motion of the oscillating link 30. In said motion, the roller 21, rolling in the groove of the part 2|, determines the gradual translation of the oscillating link 30 in the direction of the arrow F2 and, through the medium of the link 32, the gradual oscillation of the coulier lever 35.

The speed of translation of the oscillating link 30 and of the link 32 increases until the rollers are returned to the position of Fig. -2. In this position, the oscillating link 30 and the link 32 will partake entirely to the translation of the slide 4 in the direction F5, until the straight lower roller 28 comes in to contact with the incline d of part 22, thereby producing the slowing down motion of the oscillating link 30 which has been hereinbefore described relatively to the translation in thedirection of arrow F1.

Such is the operation of the main coulier motion mechanism for a hosiery machine of the usual kind, in which the loop forming stroke is constant and in which the parts 28 and 22 would consequently be stationary.

The distance apart of said parts 2i and 22 is so calculated that the lever 35 will bring, at the end of the stroke, the slur cocks to a position which is symmetrical to the one they occupied at the beginning of the stroke. It results therefrom that the distance the slur cocks have to travel before the carrier rods arrive to the stop limiting their stroke will constantly increase as narrowings take place; the rate of starting of the carrier rods increases in proportion as the length of the rows of the blank is reduced.

In the hosiery machines in which the slur cocks may move, either in contact with the jacks which operate the sinkers, or at some distance from said jacks, there is an advantage in reducing the stroke of said slur cocks. Such is the case, particularly, with the special above mentioned hosiery machine.

The operation of the main coulier motion mechanism which has just been described remains the same, but at every reduction of length of the rows of meshes of the blank, the shaft l6, connected to the spindle of the narrowing mechanism and the two parts I! and I8 of which are respectively threaded with the same pitch, the one on the left and the other on the right, brings the parts 2| and 22 nearer the one to the other. The translation of the oscillating link and consequently the stroke of the coulier lever 35 are therefore reduced; the pitch of the two threaded parts I! and i3 and the ratio of the lever arms are obviously calculated so that the stroke of the slides 41 and 49 fed by the upper end of the coulier lever 35 diminishes, at every revolution of the threaded parts l1 and I8 according to an amount equal to the reduction of width of the row of meshes.

The position of the two parts 2| and 22 can be determined in such manner that the stroke of the slur cocks will exceed the one of the yarn carriers, whatever may be the row, in starting and in arriving, according to'the constant distance which exists necessarily, at thebeginning of the loop forming of a row, between the yarn carriers and the slur cocks.

Contrarily to what has been pointed out before as regards the usual flat hosiery machines in which the stroke of the slur cocks is a constant one, it results therefrom that the action of the carrier rods by their actuating device and their arrival on the stroke end stops take place after the same time corresponding to the above mentioned constant distance respectively, after the starting of the slur cocks and before the end of the stroke of the latter, that is to say at equal and constant rates which are of a rather small value because the distance and, consequently, the time are reduced here to a minimum.

The auxiliary device as above described allows the dividing of the total stroke of the coulier lever 35 into two partsythe one controlled by the translation of the oscillating link 30 and limited, at the end of the motion, to the position in which the slur cocks have Just pushed the last sinker taking yarn in the row, the other for modifying, after the oscillating link 30 and the coulier lever 35 have been stopped and a little before the formation of the meshes succeeding to the loop forming of the row, the relative position of the carrier rod feeding device (that is to say the slide 41) and of the slur cocks (that is to say the slide 49) 1 The operation of this auxiliary device is as folows:

The outline of the earns 31 and 53 (Fig. 6) comprises arcs of a circle concentric to the shaft It and upon which bear the rollers 65 and 55 of the lever (6i-525354) whilst the oscillating link 30 acts upon the coulier lever 35 as well as during the first part of the formation of meshessucceeding to the loop forming. During all this time, the lever 5! therefore remains immovable, as well as the link and lever 56 and the axis 55 of the link 56.

The cams 61 and 38 act upon the rollers of the lever 5i shortly before the lever 35 will be operated by the .link 32, in view of a new looping stroke.

The length of the lever 35 is equal to that of the link 54 and the distance between the upper axes l3 and 53 is equal to the distance between the lower axes 33 and 55. The centres of axes 43-53-55 and 33 are consequently the apices of an articulated parallelogram and, as long as the lever 6|, and consequently, the lever 55 remain immovable, the lever 44 keeps the same inclination relatively to the horizontal, and no relatilve displacement of the slides 41 and 49 will take p ace.

The relative position of said slides is moreover such that, due to their connection through the medium, on the one hand, of the bar 5| with the yarn carrier rod feeding device and, on the other hand, of the bar 52 with the slur cooks, the latter are, when (Fig. 6) the coulier lever 35 moves in the direction of the arrow F, back of the yarn carriers, relatively to the movement, to an amount equal to the distance which is required for correctly forming the loops.

In special flat hosiery machine of the above mentioned kind, the formation of meshes takes place as soon as the coulier lever 35 stops at the end of its motion in the direction of the arrow 1'',

then a little before said lever 35 reassumes its motion in the direction reverse to the arrow 1", the projecting arcs of the cams 61 and 88 determine a pivoting motion of lever 6|,such as, through the medium of the arm 60, the link 58, the lever 56 and the link 54, the lever 44 comes to occupy a symmetrical position relatively to the horizontal position of axis 43, thereby moving (Fig. 2) the slide 41, connected to the carrier rods feeding device, in the direction of arrow F: and the slide 49, connected to the slur cocks, in the direction of arrow F4.

It will be understood that the sizes of the parts of said device may be determined so that, in the relative displacement of the two slides,

. the bar 5| will bring the levers (not shown) of the carrier rods into contact with the dogs of said rods--whence a starting of the carrier rods occurs without shock at the next stroke of the coulier lever 35and that the bar 52 will bring the slur cocks to a symmetrical position, relatively to that which the yarn carriers occupied before the rocking of the lever 44.

At the end of the next stroke of the coulier lever 35 in the direction reverse to the arrow F, and a little before the end of the formation ofimeshes which will succeed to loop forming, the cams Bland 68 will again act for returning the lever 44 and, consequently, the slides 41 and 49, to their position as shown in Fig. 2, that is to say ready to reassume their stroke in the direction of the arrow F.

The auxiliary device therefore reduces the stroke of the oscillating link 30 for the loop forming of every row, whence a new reduction of the rate of motion of the carrier rods at the moment the same arrive on the stops limiting their stroke, whereas, at this moment, the actuating device of the carrier rods, controlled by the slide 41, has a shorter way to travel. Said reduction of speed of impact of the carrier rods allows to reduce the braking of the unwinding of the yarns and, consequently, to obtain a softer blank hosiery and more correct selvedges, and to avoid the cuts during'the loop forming; the auxiliary device again puts the slur cocks relatively to the yarn carriers in the position suitable for looping the yarn of the next row of meshes, during the time the meshes are formed, which means a saving of time, this relative displacement is performed so that the carrier rod levers will come into contact with the dogs of said rods, thereby insuring the starting without shocks of the carrier rods during the loop forming operation of the next row, and consequently correct selvedges and plating.

I claim:

1. In a coulier motion mechanism for flat hosiery machines, the combination of a rotating crank l3, a slide block I! articulated to the arm of said crank and sliding in the slide of a link I which link slides along stationary spindles 5 and 6, said slide block i5 imparting an alternating longitudinal translating motion of a constant amplitude to said link i and tea slide 4 connected thereto and having a straight central groove connected to two straight side parts, by means of curved parts, on the one hand, and, on

the other hand, to a second link 30 pivoted to an axle 3i situated in its centre, four rollers which are loosely mounted on their axes connected to said link, two upperrollers 28 and 28 being constantly engaged in the groove of the above mentioned slide 4 while two lower rollers 21 and 28 engage respectively the curved groove of one of two parts 2| and 22, so that the axle 3| of said link ill has imparted thereto a longitudinal alternating translating motion the rate of which is gradually increasing until the same is equal to that of the grooved slide 4, then decreases gradually until it becomes null before the end of the translating motion of said slide 4, the axle Ii of said link 30 which carries the rollers 25, 26, 21, 28, being connected to the coulier link 32 imparting to the coulier lever 35 its oscillating motion.

2. In a coulier motion mechanism as claimed in claim 1, for flat hosiery machines, in which the slur cocks may be brought out of contact with the Jacks in the parts of their stroke in which the sinkers are not in position forloop forming, the combination of said main coulier motion mechanism with an auxiliary device in which the two parts 2|, 22 each having a groove, are mounted respectively about two oppositely threaded parts I1, 18 of a shaft I6 in connection with the spindle of the narrowing mechanism of the machine so that they will come nearer to one another at every narrowing operation.

3. A coulier motion mechanism for fiat hosiery machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the coulier lever 35 is connected to two slides 41 and 49 one 41 controlling the friction box levers actuating the carrier rodsand the other 49 controlling slur cocks of said machine, through the medium of a lever 44, pivoted to an axle 43 at the upper end of said coulier lever 35, of an articulated parallelogram constituted by an upper lever 44, a link 54, a lower lever 56 pivoted to the axle 39 of oscillation of said coulier lever 35 and the coulier lever 35 itself, and upon which may act, through the medium of a connecting link- 58, a driving lever 60, 6|, 62 movable about an axle 62 connected to the frame of the machine and whose angular position is determined by cams 61, 68 keyed to the coulier shaft 12, of the machine, so that, during every stroke of the coulier lever and the beginning of the formation of meshes following the loop forming operation, said upper lever 44 forms a constant angle with a horizontal plane and that, shortly before the end of formation of meshes, said lever 44 takes a position angularly symmetrical, relatively to the horizontal position of its axis, to the one the same was occupying until that moment, and brings, on the one hand, the carrier rod levers, connected to one 41 of the slides, into contact with dogs fixed on said carrier rods, and, on the other hand, the slur cocks connected to the other slide 49, to the position they are to occupy relatively to the yarn carriers for the correct loop forming of the next row, a position which is symmetrical to the one they occupied relatively to the yarn carriers during the loop forming of the preceding row.

FELIX TESSE. 

